Cyclone Mocha, currently located in the eastern Bay of Bengal, is likely to be stronger than initially forecast but poses little threat to India, with all of its fury likely to be concentrated in Myanmar and parts of Bangladesh, suggests the latest forecast from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Mocha — classified as a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ — was centred over the central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal on Friday evening, and was moving northeastwards with a speed of 12 kmph. As of Friday afternoon, it was 550 km west-northwest of Port Blair, 870 km south-southwest of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, and 800 km south-southwest of Sittwe in Myanmar.
“It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and intensify further into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm over East-central Bay of Bengal during the night of Friday,” the IMD said in its evening bulletin. “It is likely to cross southeast Bangladesh and north Myanmar coasts between Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh) and Kyaukpyu (Myanmar), close to Sittwe (Myanmar) around noon of 14th May, 2023 as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 150-160 kmph,” it added.
